Claude Monet selected warm yet dark colors -- reds and purples tempered with blue -- to portray the effect, and he bleached out the sky with a harsh yellowish white.

The blinding light of the sun at its highest ascent cast shadows on the stacks and the surrounding earth. These dramatic effects challenged him to find the color equivalents to the natural phenomenon of light and the sensations of visual perception.

Stack of Wheat (Thaw, Sunset) portrays the effects of the late winter thaw. In the next section, check out Monet's Stack of Wheat (Thaw, Sunset).